Oct. 19, 2018

Sumitomo Corporation sponsors World Robot Summit 2018

Sumitomo Corporation sponsored the World Robot Summit (WRS) 2018 as one of the event’s Global Partners, exhibiting a booth at the event held at Tokyo Big Sight from October 17 to 21, 2018. As an initiative part of the Japanese government’s “Japan’s Robot Strategy,” the WRS, a new international exhibition of robots, was co-hosted by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

Sumitomo Corporation exhibited four types of robots: CarriRo Delivery, a logistics support robot made by autonomous driving technology firm ZMP; Nile-T18, made by agricultural drone designer, developer, manufacturer and distributor Nileworks ; unibo, made by communication robot manufacturer Unirobot Corporation; and MB-CL02, a next-generation cleaning robot made by Cyberdyne. There was also a lecture by Dr. David Mindell, CEO of Humatics Corporation, an Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-out company invested by Sumitomo Corporation Group. A Nileworks representative attending the WRS expressed hope that the vigorous application of robot and IT technology would contribute to improved productivity in an age where population aging and labor shortages are expected to increase the worth of robots.

The Sumitomo Corporation booth featured a large iconic “tree” in the center, symbolizing the company’s capacity to create new value by taking on a wide range of challenges.

Sumitomo Corporation aims to expand its technology portfolio by investing in robot startups. The company is looking forward to contributing to the promotion and expansion of the robot industry by leveraging the diversity of its existing businesses, and by encouraging the application of robots to a wide range of purposes and markets.

“Technology × Innovation” is one of the growth areas set down by the company’s Medium-Term Management Plan 2020. Yasunori Kakemizu, Corporate Planning & Coordination Dept. staff member who works on the WRS, says that the company will continue to support the WRS so that robotics can contribute to the business development of its business units.

Agricultural drones by Nileworks received the Eighth Robot Awards ( Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award).

"unibo" interacts by learning and memorizing personal interests and preferences through frequent communications.　(0min 32sec)